What if.....

doodyhead · #1 12-21-2006, 02:32 PM

Over the Last forty years, Eric Clapton and Peter Green have been intertwined by association, style, taste and other assorted affectations. As far as I know Eric Clapton only played directly with Peter green once at Boston Tea Party one week after the Fillmore East Dark Star Alhambbra Lovelight Jam Featuring The Dead, Green, the allmans, etc...It was almost antithetical in nature. Both of their lives went on a rollercoaster afterwards. Would not it be a wonderful thing if the two of them were to find common ground and play together so many years later. I do not mean as a super group or a "one of " but a meeting of the minds. As much as B B King was a touchstone for Peter Green, Green and Clapton would have a world of experience and sympatico that seemingly has been taboo until now...What do you think?

dansven · #2 12-21-2006, 06:09 PM

Yes, it puzzles me that EC and Peter haven't played more often together.. on records.. But perhaps they've had a few front room jams at home or...? There is a photo of the two together (Splinter Group era) in the biography. I wonder if they played together.

I know it wasn't the topic of this thread, but about the two of them working together on records....:

I'm sure Peter and EC playing together on record would have been a commercial success. But I'm not sure such a team would have been a musical success... The two have different styles ... well, of course everybody has their own style, but I think Peter and Eric have grown further apart from where they were in the 60s... Peter is the one who's really changed style..

But perhaps more important, I'd fear an uptight situation. After all Peter has an enormous respect for Eric!! Hard to tell how EC would react to the situation.. Perhaps he'd feel competition in Peter.

I don't mean to be pessimistic.. The two of them working together could very well result in a brilliant album ala the one Clapton and Cale did recently. Eric do seem to be a really cool guy.. good working with other people.. good vibes... perhaps he'd make Peter loose up.

dansven · #3 12-21-2006, 06:19 PM

By the way, how many times have Peter and BB King met?

They toured together for about a week in 1969. FM supported BB, and a record of their concert at Royal Albert Hall exists.

Then there is Peter's appearance on BB's "In London" LP.

Further, BB mentions (in his foreword in the Peter Green biography, I think) that Peter came and said hello backstage at a BB King gig in the 80s.

Then Splinter Group supported BB ('97? or '98?), and Peter ang Nigel joined BB and the band and had a jam at one of the shows.

Any other known meetings?

doodyhead · #4 12-21-2006, 08:57 PM

I do not know of more on stage meetings, I can freely speculate that BB King has toured more than most human musicians over his lifetime and the chances that they have met morethan what you have mentioned are great. The irony in this is on so many levels. I agree with you that there is a tension between EC and PG that goes back a long way. Rivals, desciples, idols, falls from grace (either real or imagined) It has all the elements for fruitful or disasterous consequences, . a studio or back porch scenario would be luscious

doodyhead · #5 12-21-2006, 09:51 PM

"I remember this jam with Greatful Dead, I loved that. I didn't know that this jam with Eric Clapton (Boston February 1970) was recorded, I was more or less tricked into it, all of a sudden there was Eric and drummer Jim Gordon on stage playing with us"

Tom · #6 12-27-2006, 10:40 PM

I would think that Eric would jump at the chance to work with Greenie. I wonder though how Peter would feel about it.
I'd be first on line to hear it though.

SteveMacD · #7 12-29-2006, 06:20 PM

I'd go one further. I'm shocked that EC was never a member of Fleetwood Mac. Considering he was hanging out with them during a time when they were huge, but his success was fairly modest, I think he would have been willing to join the band. (And, before I get the Rolling Stones comment, remember, he wanted to join The Band, which was another group of multiple singer/songwriters. THAT'S what he wanted, and would have gotten in Fleetwood Mac. Not being someone else's hired gun.) In short, he was the guitarist who was in all the bands, and they were the band with all the guitarists. Seems like a natural fit.

As for a Clapton/Green project, I think Peter would be the one to resist such a record. From everything I've seen, Clapton would more than welcome the opportunity. He's done a lot of one-off shows with other big name guitarists (including Jeff Beck, who, like Peter, replaced him in a band). And, he did that album with B.B., and has one out with J.J. I think EC would be there if it were suggested.

However, I think the commercial element that would come with this type of thing would put Peter off. It would essentially be the same type of thing as a reunion with Mick, John, and Jeremy. By the time it was over, people would be talking more about the commercial success or failure of the project instead of the actual musical quality.